


Tampering with the System

by Kiranokira



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trapped, รักไม่ระบุสถานะ | Dark Blue Kiss (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, M/M, Reincarnation, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24927481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiranokira/pseuds/Kiranokira
Summary: Zhao Zi helps a lost soul find its missing match.•Zhao Zi wishes at times like this that he could offer a hug or at least a hand on the shoulder. Corporeal comfort can reach deep, but souls aren’t tangible, so Zhao Zi has to make do with information alone.“I don’t know why you were separated,” he says, and the soul emanates a shockwave of fear.[Separated? Is that what happened to us?]
Relationships: Jack | Fang Liangdian/Zhao Li'an | Zhao-zi, Kao/Pete (Kiss: The Series)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 90





	Tampering with the System

Death is a difficult place to navigate when one is new to it. People who have been through reincarnation only a handful of times usually enter death with a blurry sort of trepidation. Those young souls who have spent most of their time existing in the living world tend to expect the same kind of scenery after they die, and they’re disorientated when they enter a place that isn’t really a “place” at all.

Death isn’t part of the corporeal plane, so it doesn’t have any tangible aspects. No geography, no physics, and otherwise no rules that apply to the living world. Most young souls enter into death with some pretty disturbing reactions, and while they can’t do any harm to themselves, it isn’t very pleasant to experience or to watch.

So Zhao Zi likes to wait for them, so he can offer some comfort before they get all hysterical.

The soul before him now is especially troubled, charged and pulsing with an emotion Zhao Zi recognizes at once.

He knows in the span of a moment that this is going to be one of his pet projects.

Many older souls can understand and answer questions right away in death, and Zhao Zi prefers to get information that way because it allows the souls some agency and control in a place where—for all intents and purposes—they don’t belong. This is a transient space, and Zhao Zi has far more power than even a thousand of the oldest souls close to the end of their cycles. He just doesn’t like to exert that power over them unless they can’t communicate at all.

This one, for sure, can’t.

This soul can’t keep its form, a flame crisping into vapor and then back to flame, shivering with raw anguish.

Something terrible must have happened to this poor soul.

Zhao Zi tells the soul, “What I’m about to do may freak you out a little, but I want to see if I can help you. Okay? Okay, so—“

Very gently, and without moving at all, Zhao Zi delves into the soul’s past lives.

In their first life, the soul was seen as a girl with a clever smile. She grew up the focus of her small family, and at fifteen, she fell in love with a girl who wouldn’t stay still and never listened to reason. Together, they ran headfirst into calamity after calamity until their untimely deaths at sea.

In their second life, the soul was seen as a boy with a hesitant smile. He grew up with many siblings, and at fifteen, he fell in love with a boy whose soul he recognized without knowing it. Some of their errors in judgment from their first life together resurfaced and violence swallowed them under.

In their third life, the soul was seen as a girl with a bright smile. She grew up with one sibling, and, at nineteen, she died alone.

Oh.

_Oh!_

Interesting!

Well, that explains everything.

Zhao Zi says, “Good news! I can help you.”

The soul is calmer now, having processed all three of their lives while Zhao Zi observed along with them. In death, they can’t speak like Zhao Zi, but they can express emotion in a way that Zhao Zi understands.

 _Where are they?_ is what they want to know. _Why weren’t they with me?_

When the soul first arrived in death, they were jumbled, locked inside a sharp and persisting note of mourning both for themselves and for their missing match. Their anguish isn’t less now, but concentrated, and their form still shivers like an overworked muscle.

Zhao Zi wishes at times like this that he could offer a hug or at least a hand on the shoulder. Corporeal comfort can reach deep, but souls aren’t tangible, so Zhao Zi has to make do with information alone.

“I don’t know why you were separated,” he says, and the soul emanates a shockwave of fear.

_Separated? Is that what happened to us?_

Zhao Zi shrugs. “Could be! I don’t decide where souls are placed. I just bring people to their next destination.”

_Do you know where they are now?_

Zhao Zi offers a wide, excited smile. “No, but I can find them.”

Technically, Zhao Zi doesn’t have any kind of _official_ role in the process of life, death, and reincarnation, but he does like to help when he can. Luckily, he knows a thing or two about soulmates. He closes his eyes and begins to search.

_S…soulmates?_

Zhao Zi says, “Yep! That’s what I call it, anyway. More like, you found someone who was a really good fit for you, and you agreed in this space between lives to meet again. Isn’t that sweet? It’s not rare, but usually a couple only sticks together for a few lives and then split up to experience other loves. Some of them have told me they learned what they needed to from that person and need to find a different kind of person for the next time. Or, y’know, sometimes they stay together but they want to find a third or fourth soul. There’s all kinds of stuff that goes on here. It’s pretty fun.”

The soul is vaguely revolted.

_Did they choose to leave me, then?_

Zhao Zi loses focus on his search and opens his eyes. “Huh,” he says. “That’s a good question.”

The soul roils.

“Hey, hey! Relax, relax! I’m sure it’s not that. Here, lemme just—”

He stops talking altogether and squeezes his eyes shut to concentrate on his search of souls in earnest. He shouldn’t technically be doing this, but it’s only a little favor. This poor soul is so miserable, and they just _died_. It’s usually sad to die, but it’s _always_ sad die lonely.

Zhao Zi goes through soul after soul in the living world, flitting from one to the next as soon as he confirms that they’re not the soul he’s looking for. Souls who choose to be together always leave some kind of significant impression on themselves so they’ll know each other subconsciously in their next lives. It makes Zhao Zi’s part in this very simple, because he can see what the living can’t. It’s just…time-consuming.

Not him. Not her. Not them. Not them. Not her. Not her. Not him. Not him. Not him. Not her. Not her. Not him. Not her. Not them. Not him. Not them. Not him. Not her. Not them. Not them. Not her. Not him. Not her. Not them. Not her. Not her. Not her. Not her. Not him. Not them. Not them. Not him. Not him. Not him. Not her. Not them.

Finally, after thousands of souls, Zhao Zi finds the one.

With jubilance, Zhao Zi tells the soul with him, “They’re in a different universe! That’s why you didn’t meet them!”

_A different—? Like the multiverse?_

“Exactly!” Zhao Zi contemplates his next move for a moment, measuring the pros and cons, then says, “Okay, here’s what I’ll do. In this universe, they’re a boy around seven. I’m just gonna turn time back a bit and then have you born in the same neighborhood so it’ll be easier to find each other.”

The tentative relief and hope from the soul melts Zhao Zi’s heart.

_You can do that?_

Zhao Zi nods, rocking back on his heels and forward onto his toes. “Sure! I have connections.” Without elaborating, he takes a deep breath and begins to roll the years back. It’s delicate work, and he misses the mark a bit. “Okay, so you’ll be a little younger. Maybe a year or two? Sorry! I tried, but I haven’t done this a lot.”

The soul assures him that it’s fine, and Zhao Zi prepares to send them off.

_Wait._

“Hm?”

_Thank you so much._

Zhao Zi enjoys the warm exuberance from the soul, a marked improvement from the state they were in when they arrived, and says, “You’re welcome. Have a fun life!”

The soul can’t wave, but Zhao Zi gets the impression that they try to before they’re drawn into their next cycle.

Pleased with his work, Zhao Zi drops back, preparing to do a bridge, and says, “Oof,” as his shoulders hit someone’s chest. Within an instant, hands are sliding over Zhao Zi’s chest and stomach and a chin is notching over his shoulder.

“You’re going to get Shao Fei out here complaining about rule-breaking again,” Jack tells him. He sounds almost pleased about that. He seems entertained whenever Zhao Zi takes a tiny step in the direction of deistic anarchism.

Zhao Zi tips his head back and lands a kiss on Jack’s cheek. “Shao Fei’s a softie,” he says. “He doesn’t care if it’s for love.”

Jack hums. “You just reversed time and undid the fabric of that universe.” He tickles Zhao Zi’s ribs.

Zhao Zi laughs and squirms, but makes no effort to escape. “Only a little!” When Jack lets up, Zhao Zi gives him his best pitying face—which isn’t much of a challenge considering how bad he really does feel for that lonely soul. “He was so sad, I had to help him.”

Jack says, “Do you know why they were sent to separate universes?”

Zhao Zi gasps and turns around in Jack’s arms. “No! Do you?”

“Mm.” Jack grins and touches the tips of their noses together. “Maybe.”

Just as Zhao Zi’s opening his mouth to complain about vagueness for the sake of vagueness, Jack says, “Their first two lives had pretty terrible, violent ends. It was agreed to split them up for a lifetime so they’d learn to be less destructive.”

Zhao Zi absorbs that, then says, “I don’t think that was fair.” He puts his arms snug around Jack’s waist and trusts that Jack will understand why he thinks so.

Technically, Zhao Zi doesn’t have any kind of _official_ role in the process of life, death, and reincarnation, but he is an ascended mortal dating a god of death, and he likes to help when he can.

Jack says, “You’re pretty cute when you undo realities, Shorty,” and kisses him.

Meanwhile, in the world of the living, a little boy named Kao is born, and in a few years, he’ll meet another little boy named Pete, and they’ll know on some deep, instinctive level that they were given a special chance to do things right this time, and they’ll be kinder to themselves and each other, and they’ll do better.

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a whole big mythology AU planned, but this isn't part of it. On Twitter earlier, @thisaintbc was like, "Imagine if Kao and Zhao Zi met," and from that, I took, "What if Kao died in a universe where Pete wasn't born and Zhao Zi was a shinigami-type who kindly moved him to a universe where Pete was living without Kao?"
> 
> I don't and never shall claim to have any understanding of my own mind.


End file.
